With tears in his eyes and his voice breaking, a Marine lance corporal facing six murder charges told a hearing officer Tuesday that he did not realize there were Iraqi women and children in the line of fire when he began hurling grenades and firing his M-16. "It was dark," said Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. "I couldn't make out a lot -- just targets.... I didn't know there were women and children in that house until later." Tatum, 26, of Edmond, Okla.

This struggling town along the Euphrates River may long be remembered as the place where U.S. Marines killed 24 civilians in 2005, an incident that led to troops being charged with murder and their superiors accused of dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate.

A Marine lieutenant colonel and a lance corporal have been ordered to stand trial on charges stemming from the 2005 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, the Marine Corps announced Friday. Of eight initial defendants in the case, they are the only two who have been ordered to court-martial. The case involves the largest number of civilian deaths of any alleged abuse case involving Marines in Iraq. Lt. Col.

A Marine lieutenant colonel and a lance corporal have been ordered to stand trial on charges stemming from the 2005 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, the Marine Corps announced Friday. Of eight initial defendants in the case, they are the only two who have been ordered to court-martial. The case involves the largest number of civilian deaths of any alleged abuse case involving Marines in Iraq. Lt. Col.

A hearing officer has recommended that a Marine staff sergeant be tried on negligent homicide charges in the deaths of five women and two children in Iraq, but predicted that the prosecution would fail. Lt. Col. Paul Ware, in a report to a top general, recommended that murder charges against the sergeant be dropped in the deaths of 12 other civilians in November 2005 in the Iraqi town of Haditha. The case against Staff Sgt. Frank D.

A Marine squad leader executed five Iraqi men after a roadside bomb blast killed a Marine and then told squad members to falsely claim that the men were shot while running away, a member of his squad testified Friday. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz said he saw Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich fire his M-16 at the five as they stood beside a taxi in which they had been riding in the Iraqi village of Haditha, some with their hands locked behind their heads.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) apologized to Marines under investigation in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha in a statement his office said spared him from a libel suit. Kline, a retired Marine colonel, issued a three-paragraph statement under a deal with lawyers for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, one of the Marines under investigation. Charges have not been filed. Wuterich's lawyers sued Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) on Aug. 2 after his comments on the case.

The chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday "it would be premature for me to judge" the outcome of a Pentagon investigation into the killing of as many as two dozen Iraqi civilians by Marines. But at the same time, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said he believed it was crucial to make the point that if certain service members were responsible for an atrocity there, they "have not performed their duty the way that 99.9% of their fellow Marines have."

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani told the investigating officer at his preliminary hearing Saturday that he did not believe he had done anything criminally wrong in the aftermath of a Marine shooting in the town of Haditha that left 24 Iraqi civilians dead. "I would say to you, I do not believe my decisions and actions were criminal, sir," Chessani told Col. Christopher Conlin.

A report on the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines has found that senior military personnel in Iraq failed to follow up on "red flags" that should have indicated problems with and potential inaccuracies in initial accounts of the incident, according to a portion of the report's summary.

A hearing officer has recommended that a Marine staff sergeant be tried on negligent homicide charges in the deaths of five women and two children in Iraq, but predicted that the prosecution would fail. Lt. Col. Paul Ware, in a report to a top general, recommended that murder charges against the sergeant be dropped in the deaths of 12 other civilians in November 2005 in the Iraqi town of Haditha. The case against Staff Sgt. Frank D.

Three senior Marine officers have been given letters of censure for failing to launch a war-crimes investigation of the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday. The letters will go into the personnel files of Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, who was commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division; Col. Robert G. Sokoloski, a lawyer who was chief of staff to the division while it was in Iraq; and Col. Stephen W.

A Marine squad leader executed five Iraqi men after a roadside bomb blast killed a Marine and then told squad members to falsely claim that the men were shot while running away, a member of his squad testified Friday. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz said he saw Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich fire his M-16 at the five as they stood beside a taxi in which they had been riding in the Iraqi village of Haditha, some with their hands locked behind their heads.

The Marine Corps announced Thursday that it had dropped charges against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who was accused of murdering three Iraqi brothers in November 2005. Sharratt was one of eight Marines initially accused in the slayings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a Marine. Four enlisted men were charged with the killings and four officers with dereliction of duty for not ordering a war crimes investigation. Lt. Gen. James N.

With tears in his eyes and his voice breaking, a Marine lance corporal facing six murder charges told a hearing officer Tuesday that he did not realize there were Iraqi women and children in the line of fire when he began hurling grenades and firing his M-16. "It was dark," said Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. "I couldn't make out a lot -- just targets.... I didn't know there were women and children in that house until later." Tatum, 26, of Edmond, Okla.

The day that would produce the biggest case of alleged atrocities by U.S. troops in Iraq began simply. On Nov. 19, 2005, a squad of Marines moved out before dawn to take hot chow and a code-changing device to an outpost a few miles away. They planned to get back while the sun was barely rising over the Euphrates River. The Marines from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, had arrived in Haditha six weeks earlier from Camp Pendleton.

The killing began shortly after sunrise on a November day. As a U.S. patrol rolled through Haditha, a homemade bomb exploded beneath the belly of a Humvee, rocking the sleepy riverside town. "The Americans who were in the first vehicle came back to the damaged car. They started to scream and shout," said a gray-haired shopkeeper who would give his name only as Abu Mukarram. He said he watched the scene unfold from his bedroom window. "After some minutes, everything was quiet.

The Marine Corps announced Thursday that it had dropped charges against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who was accused of murdering three Iraqi brothers in November 2005. Sharratt was one of eight Marines initially accused in the slayings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a Marine. Four enlisted men were charged with the killings and four officers with dereliction of duty for not ordering a war crimes investigation. Lt. Gen. James N.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani told the investigating officer at his preliminary hearing Saturday that he did not believe he had done anything criminally wrong in the aftermath of a Marine shooting in the town of Haditha that left 24 Iraqi civilians dead. "I would say to you, I do not believe my decisions and actions were criminal, sir," Chessani told Col. Christopher Conlin.

Defending the lack of a war-crimes investigation in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a Marine intelligence officer testified Wednesday that it appeared the deaths had occurred in the midst of a series of attacks by insurgents that Marines had been strongly warned to anticipate. Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore said that Marine officers decided the deaths were combat-related and thus no investigation was warranted.